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Relative difficulty: Easy (6:28, solving on the train and my phone screen is broken)
THEME: HARRY STYLES — English pop singer whose name sounds like a goofy hint to the ends of 17- and 38-Across and 11- and 29-Down (i.e., "hair-y styles")
Theme answers:
Word of the Day: RAZZIE (Film award that has had the categories "Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie" and "Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie") —
- [Textile pattern that resembles braided wicker] for BASKET WEAVE
- [Sledding event that debuted in the 2022 Winter Olympics] for MONOBOB
- [Gourmet bread for a hamburger] for PRETZEL BUN
- Is a pretzel bun gourmet?? I was trying to make "brioche bun" work here at first.
- [Steinbeck novella set on a horse ranch] for THE RED PONY
Word of the Day: RAZZIE (Film award that has had the categories "Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie" and "Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie") —
Three people have won both a Razzie and an Oscar the same weekend: composer Alan Menken in 1993, screenwriter Brian Helgeland in 1997, and actress Sandra Bullock in 2010, though all three won for different films (e.g., Helgeland won a Razzie for The Postman and an Oscar for L.A. Confidential).
• • •
The theme was cute! I like when a name is sort of re-parsed to describe the theme answers-- my favorite example I can think of was the revealer "Shonda Rhimes" where the theme answers all rhymed with "Shonda." If you have a favorite, describe it in the comments!! I haven't been solving as long as y'all so I might not have heard it. Name puzzles are generally only fun if you know who the person is, so knowing Harry Styles probably also contributed to me thinking this is cute. I actually just read a romance novel (Big Fan, by Alexandra Romanoff) where the main character was a stand-in for Harry Styles... This happens a lot, btw, and I always wonder if he reads them.
(Btw, if you've never heard Harry Styles, I highly recommend his cover of Sledgehammer which you can listen to below. The song starts at 48 seconds.)
There are a lot of options for the theme answers here. I already mentioned "brioche bun" as a possibility, and there are tons of other buns, like cinnamon buns and potato buns. And "bob" could have been something like "Sideshow Bob" or "Thingumy and Bob." Any other theme answers you can think of?
Bullets:
- ["Eventually..."] for ONE DAY — I would have loved to see this clued in reference to the book / miniseries, but I always want more pop culture references than other people do
- [Like a kid in a "Sister" T-shirt vis-à-vis one in a "Sister" onesie] for OLDER — I like when a clue tells a story like this!
- [Alternative to Gramma or Granny] for NAN — What did you guys call your grandmother? I called my mom's mom Grandma and my dad's mom Dadima. I just read a book ("Thank You for Listening," by Julia Whelan) where the protagonist calls her grandmother "Blah Blah" which honestly sounds mildly insulting to me...
P.S. My uncle once commented that "all" of my NYT puzzles have a pop star in one of the long slots which I thought was a hilarious demonstration of our memory perception. (Exactly one of my seven NYT puzzles has had a pop star in one of the long slots.) I wonder if he thought that I wrote this one.
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ReplyDeleteMedium for me. MONOBOB was a WOE and HUt before HUP cost some nanoseconds.
Reasonably smooth grid, cute/quirky theme and reveal, liked it.
Croce Solvers - Croce’s Freestyle #1027 was on the easy side for me. No major hang ups. Good luck!
Agree Freestyle 1027 was easy. Relatively few over-writes (for a Croce).
DeleteDitto have learned the hard way to keep it at HU_ until crosses. HUT/HUP is the new KEA/LOA
DeleteYep, easy for a Croce. The Monday New Yorker was about the same level of difficulty, and enjoyable.
DeleteAlmost impossible for those not obsessed with pop culture. Never heard of CARGO pants, EUGENE O’Neill, or the Liberty BELL.
ReplyDeleteAnd tacky too. Who wants to think about being IN HEAT when people are dying from climate change every day? Do better.
You’re just trolling, right? None of those things qualify as pop culture.
DeleteI’m not sure how any of the answers you mentioned qualify as “pop culture”. The Liberty Bell has been a symbol of American pride for 250 years, Eugene O’Neill is a celebrated poet who won the Nobel Prize 90 years ago, and cargo pants have been widely available everywhere for at least 30 years. “Pop culture” refers to more recent, passing trends — people like Harry Styles, for example.
DeleteI’m sorry. You think Eugene O’Neill and the Liberty Bell are pop culture? Like the Statue of Liberty and Shakespeare?
DeleteI'm choosing to believe this is incredibly sarcastic.
DeleteYour comment about pop culture makes sound like a child who got the wrong doll for Xmas
DeleteHi Malaika! Happy Malaika Monday.
ReplyDeleteI tried solving this down clues only. Before you unleash the hate, let me remind you that I didn't bother doing Mondays for quite a while because they were too easy, and just whuff! they were done. When I started solving down clues only, Monday became maybe my favorite day... challenging and different. Today I came close to succeeding, but the clusterf**ck around square 23 did me in. I have never heard of EZRA, RAZZIE, or PREZELBUN so I gave up and looked at some across clues.
I have also never heard of MONOBOB. That's a joke, right? Google Ngrams returns "ngrams not found" for that, with or without a space. I wonder if the NYT bigwigs realized Mondays were too easy and difficulted (is that a word) them up to an absurd extent.
Anyway, inferred the theme from the last words of the themers, although it was tough because they were mixed between acrosses and downs. And finally read the clue for 61 across! Um... okay, I guess.
DeleteUh ... shouldn't it be "Merry Malaika Monday"? :)
I solved Downs-only as well. It started off easy but then got much tougher. Luckily I knew about RAZZIE Awards, I was pretty confident about THEY'RE which left EZRA as the only option for the Bible book, and the other Z + the theme helped me with PRETZEL BUN.
DeleteThe SW was the real struggle for me. Once I finally saw what the 43D clue was getting at, I tried BIG DOS at 50D. A possible double revealer? Nope. Then I remembered that 29D was theme, but I didn't know that answer... so after racking my brain looking for hairstyles that could fit the crossings, I landed on... THE RED MANE. A MANE isn't really a hairstyle but it's a word related to hair AND the "horse" in the clue. The crossings worked too (HOMES, ANA, KIN, ICE) so it HAD to be right, until it wasn't.
Malaika, you hated the LARS/REAL cross-reference? Imagine trying to solve it without being able to see the clue on LARS. I guessed the clue would be [58-Down name of (insert stage name here)], a very lame cross-reference. I would've never seen that coming.
@okanager, I don't know about Google, but Duck Duck Go gave me <A href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/beijing-winter-olympics/what-is-monobob-breaking-down-one-of-the-winter-olympics-newest-events/2757918/>this, among other hits.</A>
DeleteMaybe I’ll be an outlier but easy? No way. This was an insanely difficult Monday. Monobob!? WTF. Pretzel bun? Never eaten nor seen one. Lars and the real girl? Nope. More than double my usual time. I’m posting because I’ll bet there were many solvers like me who found this challenging. We will see.
ReplyDeleteI agree ... challenging for a Monday. I was unable to solve it downs-only.
DeleteAgreed 100% - one of the most difficult Mondays for me in a long time.
DeleteYes, by far the most difficult Monday in memory. Must be a generational thing, as the answers that Malaika found difficult (ERSE and BAYER) were quick gimmes for me.
DeleteThe most difficult Monday puzzle in the 3 plus years I have been doing them. Too many bizarre clues and awkward wording!
DeleteThank you! I had trouble and thought it was me. Not a Monday…
DeleteOkay, I’d like to say something really nice about this puzzle. After all, it features my grandson’s name at 47A. Hi, EUGENE. But it also had EVAL at 2D. Is there anything millennials won’t shorten? GOSHNO, there isn’t. Who actually says Gosh? Your 100 year old aunt? I don’t know if I’ve ever actually heard it in the wild. GOSH, gee whiz, darn, drat, all seem really ancient to me and yet they keep appearing in my puzzle. It may be time to print some of the expletives that people really use.
ReplyDeleteAnd 23 D, oh joy, another bible book. How many of these are there? A hundred? A thousand? Please keep in mind we weren’t all raised by nuns or Jesuits. Some of us aren’t even christian. And why would you blush while contemplating a 43D NUDE by, say, Titian or Ingres, unless you were schooled by nuns or Jesuits. There is nothing titillating about this stuff. Do you go back to your pensione in Florence and flagellate yourself after seeing Michelangelo’s David? I hope not.
The revealer kind of sucks. Weave, bob and bun all sort of work as hairy styles, but pony? How about ponytail? Almost works.
Trying to find something positive to say here. Perhaps I should say that I’ve never heard of a PRETZELBUN - and I’m a pretty decent grill cook - but it sounds good. I’m always looking for a way to avoid using those crappy supermarket hamburger buns and I hate baking my own brioche. And though I felt it failed as a themer, I fondly remember reading THEREDPONY in junior high.
And, finally, while I was carrying out my errands today in my truck, Spotify, as it often does, decided to apply one of its weird algorithms and insert Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” into my Sly Stone playlist, right behind “It’s a Family Affair”. I’ve been happily humming it all day. So, no, it’s not that I’m cranky - I mean Sister Sledge, right - it just wasn’t a stellar puzzle.
Hoo boy.
DeleteThere are 66 "Bible books" (this non-Christian knows trivia outside his belief system). I'm SURE you wouldn't want people complaining about the Torah, Quran, etc. if one of them were in the puzzle.
DeleteI don't have any of the puzzle's hairstyles, but I've still heard of them.
@Les, thanks! Now I get the theme -- I was trying to hard, trying to make the whole answer some style that was hairy, when it was just a last-words theme about hair styles!
DeleteTook longer than most Mondays. Needed an alphabet run for the LARS/REAL cross, and got MONOBOB from the crosses. Enjoyed the punny theme, though HARRYSTYLES was an unfamiliar name.
ReplyDeleteI should have resorted to an alphabet run, but for some reason, was fairly comfortable with "Lads and the Deal Girl" as a movie title. Didn't look twice and resulted in my first DNF on a Monday puzzle in years. Hoping the rest of the week improves.
DeleteI had Lass and the Seal Girl!
DeleteAgreed on the Ryan Gosling cross, tried about 6 other letters before working my across the keyboard to R. I'm glad I never even saw the clue for MONOBOB
ReplyDeleteLike what, “Labs and the Beal Girl”, “Lads and the Deal Girl”? Seemed like a pretty fair cross to me, even though I’d never heard of the movie.
DeleteMy five favorite original clues from last week
ReplyDelete(in order of appearance):
1. Tales are related about them (9)
2. Cylindrical grain holders (4)
3. Rush to find a mate? (5)(5)
4. Member of a sub-Saharan matriarchal clan (5)
5. Adjunct faculty? (5)(5)
CAMPFIRES
COBS
SPEED CHESS
HYENA
SIXTH SENSE
My favorite used-before clues from last week:
ReplyDelete[Alternative to French] (5)
[Went from 0 to 60?] (4)
RANCH
AGED
Raise your hand if your last entry was the "R" in the LARS/REAL cross.
ReplyDeleteHand emoji. After going through A to Q.
DeleteSmalltowndoc
DeleteI thought the puzzle was very easy. But reading the comments, I can see that reactions varied a lot. I couldn’t remember the first name ( I never saw the movie but read about it in the Times) but L was enough to ring a bell.So wheelhouse and all that. On the other hand I didn’t have any idea how to spell Ohtani’s given name a while back and dnf’d on a hard cross! So I guess it evens out.
R was the final square to fill, guessing R seemed probable. Medium Monday for me.
DeleteBy the way, HUP as a "call from a drill sergeant? I know it as the Philly hospital where I did my fellowship.
ReplyDeleteI had to run the alphabet to get the crossing R square for LARS and the REAL girl--that was a Natick for me. Everything else I'd heard of--and @Malaika, I completely agree that a PRETZEL BUN is pretty emphatically NOT gourmet (unlike a brioche bun, which is probably the only "gourmet" bun). Harder than a normal Monday for me. Cute theme but it wasn't particularly helpful nor did I have an "aha" moment. Mostly an "ah, okay" moment.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:36 am
DeleteNot sure that R cross is a natick
Real Deal is a very common expression. Don’t know of any other letter that would fit.
I enjoyed Malaika‘s write-up this morning more than I did this kind of a clunker of a puzzle. When you feel as though pulling crossing entries out of “LARS and the REAL Girl” and including whatever a MONOBOB is actually enhances your grid, I start looking for the exit - ah, there it is . . . I’ll let myself out.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI had most of the same WOEs as previous posters, although I do know Harry Styles (by name, although I wouldn't recognize any of his work). MONOBOB (38A) as a hair style (or anything else) threw me, as did the tail-less PONY (29D). I've heard of PRETZEL BUNs (11D). I've tried them. I don't like them. They're always too dry and the consistency is wrong. de gustibus and all that.
There is an art to Monday cluing, with the ideal being that while the clues are direct and gettable, there is a layer of fuzziness to the clue that engages the brain, as opposed to the clues being simply embarrassingly easy.
ReplyDeleteToday’s puzzle nailed it. Even as I was splashing in answers, I was never disengaged; there was a freshness to the clues. One example: [Like a kid in a “Sister” T-shirt vis-à-vis one in a “Sister” onesie] for OLDER. Mwah!
I caught on to the hairstyle angle in the theme answers, but getting from there to guessing the revealer (which I left blank) was too tall a hill for me. I loved the stabs my brain took, though. When I saw BOB and PONY, for instance, I thought, “Oh, it’s words that precede “tail!”
Some gorgeous answers beautified the outing: ROBUST, COWER, BELLY UP, HEWN.
Coursing through a high-quality puzzle, whatever the day of the week, lifts my day, and you do it every time, Christina. Thank you!
Thanks, Lewis for reminding me of those lovely words. Permit me to add RAZZIE. I know, I know, it's PPP, but it's still fun to say. Oh, and the clue for NOISE, clamor, is a fine word, too.
DeleteHarder than most Wednesdays. Among my problems:
ReplyDelete- Not knowing my Steinbeck.
- Never imagining a PRETZEL BUN would be considered 'gourmet'.
- Not recognizing 'pony' as a hairstyle (ponytail, yes; pony, no).
- Not knowing my bible books (considered Ruth, Acts, John, Mark, Luke and Joel (not sure that last one is a bible book).
- TIED could have been even. IN RE could have been attn or as to.
You're not the first one, kitshef, to voice your doubt today about the "gourmet" status of the PRETZELBUN. I've neither seen or heard of these things but a quick look-up informs me that the dough is boiled before it is baked, like a bagel. So now I've gotta track some down and try them for my burgers.
DeletePretzel buns are OK, but not gourmet. I find them a little to stiff for a burger they tend to make the burger
DeleteI thought the cluing was fun but just didn’t know either HARRY or LARS. Felt much the same as Malaika—top was relatively easy, bottom tougher. PRETZELBUNS kinda fell out from the crosses and was seen wearing CARGO pants yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAfter years of Sunday school and being a regular church-goer until I went off to college, it took a crossword puzzle to discover that there's a Bible book called EZRA. Wonder which other ones I missed.
ReplyDeleteAlso missed the MONOBOB in the Olympics somehow. My tennis doubles crew decided to become The Bobs at some point, we had Scoop Bob, Killer Bob, Frog Bob, and I was/am Coach Bob. No actual Bobs in the group, and certainly no MONOBOB.
Nice enough Monday, CI. Liked the HARRY/hairy angle, Clever Insight there, and thanks for all the fun.
Never heard of LARS etc. but the R went right in. Maybe it's a SB kind of thing.
This is significantly harder than a normal Monday... especially with EVAL / MONOBOB / RIAN / EUGENE / LARS AND THE REAL GIRLS?!
ReplyDeleteMy downs-only solve led me to create a new Steinbeck novella called The Red Mare. Vaguely remembered he had one that referenced a horse and all the acrosses were valid words so it had to be!
ReplyDeleteHa ha, good guess!
DeleteGreat puzzle, as expected from this constructor, medium Monday. Quick and lively, well done clues. Felt like this could easily be reclued for Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteWord of the Day for me , and I suspect many, was MONOBOB. Got it from crosses, and then it made sense immediately " OK, a bobsled for one person"!
Always enjoy your upbeat writeups, Malaika. Get that screen fixed soon
This puzzle only works if you pronounce "Harry" as "hairy". Native New Yorkers and United Kingdom residents do not.....
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of things I don’t know and often learn by doing a puzzle. I did learn “monobob” , not sure how I missed that during the Olympics but I’ll look out for it now. However, in defense of the puzzle, “Lars and the Real Girl” is a famous movie, Eugene O’Neil is a famous American playwright and Harry Styles is a famous pop star. I think they’re all fair entries.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. Names in puzzles, especially pop culture names, are often my nemesis, but the names today are all famous enough to qualify as general cultural knowledge, I think.
DeleteAnd "LARS and the Real Girl" showed up in a Tuesday puzzle just this past March, in case anyone missed it in theaters back in 2007. It's a gem of a movie that was a commercial failure but earned several award nominations, including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. It features outstanding performances by Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer. I highly recommend it!
I agree with both Diane Joan and Sailor, especially concerning LARS and the REAL Girl. It's a gem.
DeleteCame to the comment section for this. LARS and the REAL Girl didn't get enough love in 2007. And now people here are poopooing it. It's a wonderful movie, and it can't catch a break.
DeleteI agree with Lewis: the puzzle is a perfect degree of difficulty for a Monday. There’s nothing I hadn’t heard of that was reasonably inferable. And yes, pretzel buns are a thing. My only overwrite was ALTO (as in Palo Alto) versus ALTA.
ReplyDeleteHad I been editing, the clue for 56A would have read: “___ and the [58-Down] Girl …” But that’s the only nit I’d pick on this one.
Brava, Christina! Brava!
Never heard of a PONY HARR...STYLE. You can't just drop "tail".
ReplyDeleteActually, you can ... my girls always did!!!
DeleteHadn't heard this until my granddaughter was old enough to request a hair style, and then I had a new meaning for "Do you want a pony?".
DeleteDidn't mind it as much as others, but you do wonder what goes through the minds of editors with that ridiculous Ryan Gosling cross ref on a monthly day!
ReplyDeleteHey All !
ReplyDeleteA LIKABLE puz. Fun wordplay with the Revealer. A nit, is it just PONY as the HA(I)RY STYLE, or the full PONY tail?
Got the correct tilde-less ANO in at least.
Wasn't aware the One-Man Bobsled was called MONOBOB. Thought it was called One-Man Bobsled. 😁
Not much else to say. Slow brain morning.
Have a great Monday.
One F
RooMonster
DarrinV
Apparently, it's One-Woman Bobsled--at least in the Olympics, there's no parallel men's event.
DeleteAh, there's the ole sexism coming out! Maybe I can Goog first before looking like an ASS?
DeleteRooMonster Foot In Mouth Guy
Lars and the Real Girl is one of my favorite movies of all time. Watch it people. It won’t disappoint.
ReplyDeleteHand up for Lars and the Real Girl! It’s a surprising and wonderful movie.
DeleteSo surprised so many don’t know it. It is a gem!
DeleteI couldn't agree more. It's an exceptional movie. The world would be a much nicer place if everyone had seen it.
DeleteIt is a sweet, funny, wonderful movie.
DeleteWhizbangs? Wanna shag? a couple of other possible themers.
ReplyDeleteTyphoid Mary has a modern counterpart in the lores of contagious diseases -- MONOBOB.
A well-known sign of Gaelic disrespect is the BAYER ERSE. Roughly comparable to the German PRETZELBUN.
Unusual GRID with 32 black squares and AVOID at 14A.
Toughie to solve D.O. Had to eventually allow myself to peek at one across clue. So I had fun. Thanks, Christina Iverson.
How about a federal law banning the use in any way of a rap group or rap song or rap reference of any kind in any crossword puzzle anywhere?
ReplyDeleteSo is it safe to assume you’ve never been to a Lil Nas X concert?
DeleteHmmm. Google says: "1.85 billion people globally tune into rap and hip-hop music, which represents about 26% of global music listeners."
DeleteThose who have never heard of a PRETZEL BUN really need to expand your world. They were inescapable just a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteOther things that seem a bunch of you haven't heard of that come up often in crosswords, POPO for police, in many a movie. Other slang terms that are all over TV, movies, and internet.
The rare Christina Iverson puzzle that let me down - or maybe the only one. For a Monday puzzle I thought it relied much too heavily on names. I happened to do fine with them, but I was solving also with an eye to my spouse's experience when he picks up the paper copy later today. He's in the training-wheels stage of solving, with last Monday being the first time he finished a puzzle without my help. Today he won't know BELLA, RIAN, TOMEI, RAZZIE, DERN, NAS, THE RED PONY, HARRY STYLES. Can he get them from crosses? This will be Saturday level for him.
ReplyDeleteCan you let us know how he does? Will he really not know Marisa Tomei?
Delete@Liveprof, yes, I will do that. He definitely will not know Marisa Tomei.
DeleteI got to do quite a bit more thinking than I normally get to do on Monday, so I was a happy camper. The theme didn't wow me, but it led to some colorful theme answers like BASKETWEAVE and PRETZELBUN. Is PONY now a stand-alone STYLE? I thought it was a pony tail. Or is PONY a different style entirely?
ReplyDeleteANALysis before EVALuation at 2D was my only hiccup -- and while BELLA was no help, AVOID straightened me out quickly.
I hate PRETZELs -- too salty and otherwise tasteless -- so I can't imagine why a PRETZELBUN is a "gourmet" alternative to a regular hamburger bun. Unless it just looks like a pretzel without tasting like a pretzel. And while normally I like fancy and imaginative cooking, I sort of think that the lowly hamburger bun is perfectly suited to its task and cannot be improved on. I've had hamburgers served to me on brioche and other bread-y things like that and it was never as good. Long live the original hamburger bun!
Enjoyable Monday, I thought.
I do love the idea of using ANAL for EVAL.
DeleteI never liked pretzels until I tried Dots. They come in numerous flavors and are really tasty! On the other hand I despise regular hamburger buns - too sweet for me.
DeleteI don't care about solving Downs only so can't comment on that, but for me this was a near-perfect Monday puzzle, i.e., not ridiculously easy but very doable, with a few mild challenges. I do know the movie Lars and the Real Girl , and don't consider it too obscure for a Monday. The one I had to wait to get from crosses was Bella. Also had to get Pretzel Bun and Monobob from the crosses. So...not overly easy, but fun!
ReplyDeleteI have heard of HARRY STYLES, so I did guess him with enough crosses. And I guess that the MONOBOB is hairy to ride, but I'm having trouble fitting in the other three theme answers. Is a BAKET WEAVE hairy? I really don't see how a PRETZEL BUN would be (nor how it would be "gourmet" for that matter). Is a RED PONY something you would ask your stylist to do with your hair? It's just not working for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Ryan Gosling movie? A Natick all on its own, although I guess is the most likely letter for that crossing square.
Aside from that, a fun puzzle.
"...a goofy hint to the ends of..." says the revealer clue. Once again, we have a puzzle where it's only the last word in the themer phrase that counts: WEAVE, BOB, BUN, and the ridiculous stand-alone PONY.
DeleteTo those who say HARRY is not pronounced "hairy", I say "Amen." I never even thought of that possibility until I came to the blog. I took STYLES as the revealer and disregarded the HARRY part entirely.
With you on Harry/hairy. Mary, marry, and merry all sound different, as well.
DeleteNancy
DeleteEven though we have had repeated discussions hereabout the great divide in American pronunciation, I also completely missed that both parts of Harry Styles applied to the theme. as Harry rhyming with hairy is as alien to this New Englander as it is to you. Believe it or not we are be in the minority nationwide on this.
I do think that one can deduce RAZZIES from the clue, even if you've never heard of them. At least, if you know the expression "gave the raspberry to." Same with MONOBOB, although I tried MONOski first. And I like the puzzle a lot more now that I understand the theme.
ReplyDeleteKinda hard MonPuz solvequest, at our house. Mainly cuz all the themers were totally hairy no-knows for the likes of m&e. Also, this rodeo opened up with no-know BELLA, buckin M&A around right out of the chute.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed the rest of it tho, and it's good for M&A to suffer, on a MonPuz, just occasionally.
staff weeject picks: HUB/HUP. When in doubt, guess U.
fave moo-cow eazy-E MonPuz clue: {What the Roman numeral XX represents} = TWENTY.
some other fave stuff: THESTONES [Didn't especially know the tunes sited in the clue, tho]. RAZZIE. BELL/BELLYUP. INRE/INHEAT. Marisa TOMEI darlin in an M&A fave non-schlock flick.
Agreein for sure with @Nancy: Preztels only good for throwin at walls, and such. [i.e. Cornhole variation, maybe?]
fave harrystyle and Olympic event learned about today: MONOBOB. If only they'da had a MOOHAWK sleddin event. Woulda saved valuable nanoseconds [and yo, @ jae].
Thanx for the MonPuz eye-opener, Ms. Iverson darlin. Liked yer style.
And thanx for malaikan our Monday, Ms. Malaika darlin.
Masked & Anonymo4Us
... another hairy solvequest, mini-style ...
"Circle of Jerkiness" - 10x7 12 min. themed runt puzzle:
**gruntz**
M&A
I think this puzzle was more difficult than the usual Monday puzzle but was by no means difficult. I whooshed through it & solved as a themeless. Cute theme :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Christina.
Guess it wasn't "Seal and the Lass," huh?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the writeup, Malaika. Definitely harder than the usual Monday downs-only, I had to check several across clues.
ReplyDeleteYou asked “What did you guys call your grandmother?”
My father’s parents were Dearie and Daddy Bill to us, the same as they called each other. He passed away long before I was born, but the name we all called her was a persisting reminder of his love.
Trying to agree with the thread under "Stumptown Steve." This was *insanely* difficult for a Monday (hardest I can ever recall, and I'm in my eighth decade of doing these), and the ones Malaika found hard, ERSE and BAYER, were gimmes.
ReplyDeleteI am 75 but I like to keep up with the times (pun intended). This puzzle was a breeze for me. I thought Lars and the Real Girl was an absolutely charming movie when I watched it back in 2007. Haven’t seen it since, so I can’t say how well it has aged.
ReplyDeleteI am 75 but I like to keep up with the times (pun intended). This puzzle was a breeze for me. I thought Lars and the Real Girl was an absolutely charming movie when I watched it back in 2007. Haven’t seen it since, so I can’t say how well it has aged.
ReplyDeleteLike I often do on Mondays, I solved it in my head. Like others, I had to run the alphabet on the Ryan Gosling, but had a nice aha when I got to the R.
ReplyDeleteEASTOFEDEN and THEREDPONY same number of letters. My rudimentary of Steinbeck trivia. I remember we read "The Pearl" in ninth grade c. 1974
ReplyDeleteIn Spanish it’s always the masculine form unless fm is specified. Hence, tall is alto. Unless you’re referencing a woman or other fem noun.
ReplyDeletep.s.
ReplyDeleteWoulda got BELLA easier, if there had been some kinda funny x-ref to either BELL or BELLYUP.
Also, forgot to mention my admiration for the ROD clue.
Also, mistyped pretzel in my earlier post, but do know how to spell it; just not eat it.
M&A
Lewis, I agree. Those we great clues. Especially the rush to find a mate had me misdirected for a long time and I believe I only got Hyena thru corosses
ReplyDelete@egs your typhoid Mary mono Bob took me a minute. Then oho!
ReplyDeleteWow
ReplyDeleteI thought it was so easy but after reading the comments I see it was in my wheelhouse and many found it hard
Though
RIAN has been in the puzzle before several times and he has had several hit movies
So has LILNASX.been in the puzzle often
Someone, not the troller, actually complained about Eugene ( At least look him up before you sound so disgusted).
Bayer was once an extremely well known name so I had no idea it isn’t any more!
The Germans held patented aspirin under the corporate name of Bayer. During WW I the US government seized the Bayer division in the US and it was a separate company until the Germans bought it but I think it was sold again
ERSE is very much crosswordese. I am sure Malaika has seen it before, just forgot it
Bella was a no know but BELL at the other end was ridiculously easy. (Along with M & A’s Twenty )
Ezra was filled by the crosses.
Lars/Real cross Naticked me! Guessed the R and was right.
ReplyDeleteAs I've said several times before (and as @Lewis pointed out today) there can be real art to making a Monday puzzle - easy enough for early in the week, but with just the right amount of resistance. This one did an admirable job.
ReplyDeleteLike others, I did have to guess at the LARS/REAL crossing but I can't see why that bothers anyone - I learned about a movie that I never heard of and according to folks here - it was great! So now I get to look for and watch a film I never knew existed - who wouldn't love that??
Cute is how I'd describe the theme, the revealer was fine and the themers all work (yes, even Pony). However one pronounces HARRY, the revealer did it's job.
My only small hold up was rushing in to write GHOST rather than the correct AVOID in 14A - Intentionally miss calls from, say. Other than that, I thought the grid was clean and any of the propers that I didn't know all had fair crosses (well.... maybe not LARS) So no complaints here, thank you Christina!
@Hugh 7:17 PM
Delete+1 Exactly right. I did see the movie and it's wonderful.
Lars and the real girl is a tender, warm movie for all of you who never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteMalaika, you listen to Howard Stern?!
ReplyDeleteI always wonder when people say it was so hard for a Monday is it because they are trying to solve downs only ? ( which I never try) .
ReplyDeleteDios mío, no puedo hacer eso.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anybody mentioned the cross on LARS and the REAL Girl is a little tough? 😜 I knew the movie (it's good) so dropped it in easily. Wrote in RAZZIE before I finished reading the clue.
I think the theme was silly fun. The overall puzzle was way too gunky, but still fun. And yeah, pony often loses its tail among the crowd I know. One of my favorite things about the comments today is when New Englanders talk about pronunciation. Y'all know there's lotsa ways to tawk, right? Y'aint all that, y'know?
Hand up for GHOST before AVOID. I like the MONOBOB, but I bet the luge is more fun, and skeleton would be the biggest rush. We've been using brioche hamburger buns because we're fancy, but I don't eat hamburger in them. Too murdery for my tastes. Mostly tomato and cheese, but we haven't found farmer's market tomatoes yet.
People: 9
Places: 0
Products: 10 (really 11, but I only counted Lars once)
Partials: 8
Foreignisms: 4
--
Gary's Grid Gunk Gauge: 31 of 78 (40%) {No wonder many were grumble bunnies over this one}
Funnyisms: 2 😕
Tee-Hee: IN HEAT. NUDE. Somebody mentioned not blushing at nude art. Really? That's half the fun. You're standing next to The David and thinking only about Michelangelo? You're not imagining all the things David and his manliness might get up to on a Friday night?
Uniclues:
1 Recommendation to rocker Stewart before taking the stage.
2 Bobbed the ginger.
3 The one in the hot tub, maybe.
1 AVOID ONION ROD
2 LOST THE RED PONY
3 LIKABLE NUDE
My Fascinating Crossword Uniclue Keepsake from Last Year: Pong themed skirt for end of the year dance. PROM ATARI MIDI.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯